WARNING: If this is your first exposure to this list of THE BEST HONG KONG FILMS EVER then you need to stop reading and head back to the very beginning by reading this post. If you start at the beginning, you can witness the suspense and utter verbosity as we count down from film #200 all the way to film #1. But if you start reading with this list of full results, you’ll ruin the whole thing by seeing #1 first. And you know, nobody likes it when you ruin the whole thing.

After many weeks, we’re finally bringing you the full list of results from our BEST HONG KONG FILMS EVER reader vote. Sorry for the delay, but during the original 24-day run of the BEST HONG KONG FILMS EVER (Back in December 2012!), I found out that my wife was expecting our first child. So after I rushed to finish the results of the reader vote I ditched nearly all distractions besides work, the occasional film review, sleep and BIOSHOCK INFINITE in order to deal with his arrival.

The upcoming birth of my son is why I’ve let this blog and the main LoveHKFilm website go to seed. The site and its associated activities — which include but are not limited to film festivals, film-related freelance work and most of my friends — will likely be pushed to the side after he’s born so I can be something resembling a responsible parent. Chances for success are slim but it’s not like there are any other options.

The upside to this whole fatherhood thing is that I finally have someone I can pass LoveHKFilm to. I originally thought I’d be handing it off to one of the site contributors but that dream died a few years back. With the next generation on its way, LoveHKFilm.com will one day boast film reviews by someone named “Kozo Jr.” Yay! LoveHKFilm.com will survive until 2046!

Yeah, like that would ever happen. I should never expect my son to have an interest in LoveHKFilm.com, nor that he’ll keep it going until 2046. Donnie Yen knows the score:

So enough about me. Let’s get to the complete list of THE BEST HONG KONG FILMS EVER.

In case you need a refresher: sometime in November 2012, we asked LoveHKFilm.com’s readers to send in their lists of the Best Hong Kong Films Ever, pulled from the sum totality of all the Hong Kong films they had seen. 166 people answered and we came up with our 24 day-long BEST HONG KONG FILMS EVER countdown, which ran from December 2012 through January 2013. The countdown basically sapped all our time and again reaffirmed why I am not a statistics or mathematics major. On the plus side, I’ve gotten really good at searching in Chinese for images.

Quick reminder on this list: all Mainland China films released after 1997 and receiving play in Hong Kong via video or cinema do count in this list. So please don’t ask why we allowed GREEN TEA to stay on this thing.

So below you’ll find the first 200 films, and then the following 279. Some titles have been bolded because I’ve added some annotations (or bad jokes) on their selection. Sorry, no links to LoveHKFilm.com or HKMDB reviews but you can use the handy site search box located way up the page to the left. At the bottom are some notes and small trivia and then that’s it. This feature will finally be over and the monkey will finally be off our back.

- Total voters: 166 voters
- Total points awarded: 14,943.5 points
- Total number of films voted on: 479 films
- Total number of films voted on in our Eighties Poll: 228; Nineties Poll: 259 films; Aughts Poll: 176
- 91% of all points were given to the films in the Top 200 (13,634 total).
- 28% of all points were given to the top 10 films.
- Film with the most votes (tie): CHUNGKING EXPRESS and INFERNAL AFFAIRS with 84 votes each.
- Number of films that only received 1 vote: 201
- Year with most films nominated: 1993 with 24 films. 584.5 points given to films from 1993.
- Year with the most points given: 1994 with 1274 points for 16 films. 9% of all points given to films from 1994.
- Film with the most amount of first place votes: CHUNGKING EXPRESS, with 24 first place votes.
- Film with the most amount of votes that missed the Top 200: FLY ME TO POLARIS, with 4 votes. Came it at #202.
- Lowest scoring film with a first place vote (tie): MOTORWAY and THE BULLET VANISHES, each with 10 points and 1 vote.
- Highest ranked disqualified film: TOUCH OF ZEN, with 32 points. It would have ranked at #102 but qualifies as a Taiwan film.

You’ll notice that there are some big gaps in the sixties and fifties, plus we ignore completely anything that was made before 1953. Not surprising, because the participants in this vote are not necessarily film scholars or Hong Kong film lifers. There are some film industry or media types sprinkled throughout, but the voters are mostly just regular fans who may have seen a few hundred Hong Kong films. Or they may have seen just fifty. I didn’t limit participation and the biases and obvious concentrations are all a part of it.

That said: despite the list leaning post-seventies, I’m very happy witih the fact that genre didn’t overwhelm the list. It did play a large part in certain films ranking higher, but there are lots of great choices and minor gems that show up. A big thanks to everyone who took part in this vote. In particular I’d like to thank the following voters, who I may or may not know or have corresponded with in real life: Kevin Ma, Tim Youngs, Valerie Soe, Laura Irvine, Jennifer Young, Maggie Lee, Lorna Tee, Shelly Kraicer, Lisa Roosen-Runge, Michael Wells, Adam Laidig, James Brown, Martin, Simon Booth, Jared King, Andrew Chan, Yin Szeto, Glenn Griffith, Phil Gillon, Vipula Gopal, Marco Sparmberg, Diogo Martins, Tim Chmilewski and Amy Yeung. That’s only a fraction of the respondents we did get, but I appreciate each and every one even if I did not namecheck you here.

That should do it for this vote of the BEST HONG KONG FILMS EVER. As I’ve mentioned numerous times, this is the last LoveHKFilm Reader Vote. The “Best Ever” is a fitting swansong because there’s really nowhere to go now. The site will continue to provide occasional reviews of Hong Kong film and if we can we’ll blog or run periodic features. However, the site is officially on the downswing and that’s where it’ll be for a good long while.

Again, thanks for your attention and support. Customary toy photo to end this thing:

“サヨナラ!”

Yep, I own a stone statue of Anpanman, a children’s character with a head made out of bread. This explains a lot about me.

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I will cop to voting Paul Rudd in Gen-Y Cops as one of the best performances in Hong Kong cinema history, but must make it clear that I did not vote it in my top 20. I ain’t no troll. An outstanding, inspiring, Oscar worthy performance, does not a great movie make. Have you seen The Iron Lady, or ? Just had to clear that up.

Great job on the list, compiler and voters all. It was a great read and has given me some inspiration for where to go next with my movie viewing.